John Devine: Ables left legacy at Carmel

One of the sport's most stubborn, yet successful head track and field coaches the area has ever seen won't be sporting a clipboard or his traditional red shoes this spring.

John Ables' run at Carmel is apparently over.

And it's not his choice.

The 74-year-old icon was not invited back after 20-plus years and 58 boys and girls Mission Trail Athletic League team championships, and one state team cross country title.

Why?

It depends on whom you ask.

Some feel it was time. Others — including current athletes at Carmel — are in a state of shock. So is Ables, an off-campus coach.

"I, along with many of my peers, are confused and hurt at his recent firing,'' said Carmel senior Parker Levinson. "The administration at Carmel High has not been very forthcoming as to their reasons for his firing.''

All Carmel administrators would say is the school is going in a different direction.

I know Ables — who won't comment on his situation at this time — wasn't prepared to retire.

You can't argue with Ables' success on the track, where he turned a program around in the early '90s, capturing more league titles on campus than any other sport.

Track became the sport for nearly two decades at Carmel with more than 100 athletes engulfing the facilities between February and May. Ables became a fixture on campus with his passion for students

For the first time since Ables became a coach at Carmel, he wasn't on campus on Monday when school resumed.

No one is debating Ables' success as a coach. No one is suggesting he still can't coach.

But Ables didn't always endear himself to , shall we say, higher authority.

He didn't want parents interfering with his program. He didn't want distractions from other activities on campus in the spring. That didn't always endear him to the administration.

Ables wasn't always willing to budge on his belief.

In his mind, why should he?

Carmel was still winning titles even as the program's numbers were declining the last couple of years.

The Padres have won 16 straight MTAL girls titles, winning 105 straight dual meets. Just two MTAL boys teams (Greenfield and King City) have beaten Carmel at the league finals in the last 16 years.

Athletes were reaching new standards, some even extending their season into June at the state meet. And most believed in his theories.

In an ever-changing world, Ables was a throwback coach. He wasn't interested in individual accolades. He wanted team titles.

Athletes made sacrifices for Ables they most likely would not have done in other sports. That tells you something about the man and his image among his athletes

Yet, talk to athletes from the past and most still swear by Ables, praising him for making them a better person.

Ables demanded a lot from his athletes. He wasn't always good at bending his rules just a tad.

Ultimately, that may have played a role in the administration's decision to tell the school's winningest track coach that his services were no longer needed.

But in a sport that is starving for coaches, Carmel has lost a good one — along with his entire staff.

Ables will be the first to tell you his success over the last two decades in track and field and cross country stems from his staff. Three of his assistants have been with him for 23 years. Another for 18.

No track coach in the county has been in one place longer than Ables.

I don't envy the person that will replace Ables. It's like replacing Vince Lombardi or Phil Jackson. How many high school coaches can convince their athletes to sing "God Bless America" after a meet.

Was it corny? Not if you're an American.

None of his athletes left a meet early. A circle of red would cover a track during the 3,200-meter run as Carmel athletes supported teammates running eight laps near the end of the meet.

Track practice starts in 23 days.

One former Carmel hurdler told me he'd like to take the job, but not under these circumstances.

Will we see Ables resurface?

I know he wants to coach, even if it's as an assistant.

Ables once told me God gave him a gift and that was to coach.

Of course, his stubbornness didn't always make friends. He stepped on toes — perhaps the wrong ones too many times.

And that's a shame.

I will miss having Ables come up to me at a track meet, put his arm around me and start a conversation by saying "nothing personal, but."

Yes, I received the wrath of some of those complaints. The trouble is Ables was right most of the time.